U.S. patent number 11,310,542 [Application Number 17/025,742] was granted by the patent office on 2022-04-19 for advertisement supported video download.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Comcast Cable Communications, LLC. The grantee listed for this patent is Comcast Cable Communications, LLC. Invention is credited to Michael A. Chen.
United States Patent |
11,310,542 |
Chen |
April 19, 2022 |
Advertisement supported video download
Abstract
System and method for facilitating advertisements within viewed
content. The advertisements may be banner advertisements or other
advertisement. The advertisements may be included in such a manner
that if a user skips or otherwise fast forwards through the
advertisements, the user if force to skip through at least a
portion of the viewed content.
Inventors: |
Chen; Michael A. (Wallingford,
PA) |
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Comcast Cable Communications, LLC |
Philadelphia |
PA |
US |
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Assignee: |
Comcast Cable Communications,
LLC (Philadelphia, PA)
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Family
ID: |
1000006245470 |
Appl.
No.: |
17/025,742 |
Filed: |
September 18, 2020 |
Prior Publication Data
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Document
Identifier |
Publication Date |
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US 20210105514 A1 |
Apr 8, 2021 |
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Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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15206586 |
Jul 11, 2016 |
10785507 |
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11733876 |
Aug 23, 2016 |
9424587 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N
21/23424 (20130101); G06Q 30/0276 (20130101); G06Q
30/0251 (20130101); H04N 13/139 (20180501); H04N
19/57 (20141101); H04N 21/812 (20130101); H04N
19/59 (20141101); H04N 21/4858 (20130101); H04N
21/2547 (20130101); H04N 21/4886 (20130101); H04N
2201/3226 (20130101); H04N 2201/325 (20130101); H04N
5/2628 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04N
21/234 (20110101); H04N 21/485 (20110101); H04N
21/488 (20110101); H04N 19/59 (20140101); H04N
13/139 (20180101); H04N 21/2547 (20110101); H04N
21/81 (20110101); G06Q 30/02 (20120101); H04N
19/57 (20140101); H04N 5/262 (20060101) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Chokshi; Pinkal R
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Banner & Witcoff, Ltd.
Parent Case Text
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 15/206,586, filed Jul. 11, 2016, and
entitled "ADVERTISEMENT SUPPORTED VIDEO DOWNLOAD", which claims
priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/733,876, filed Apr.
11, 2007, and entitled "COMMUNICATION NETWORK", now U.S. Pat. No.
9,424,587, each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its
entirety and made part hereof.
Claims
The invention claimed is:
1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, a request
for video content, wherein the request comprises advertisement
selection data, and wherein the video content comprises a plurality
of video frames; determining spatial aspects of one or more
advertisements for inclusion with the video content based on the
advertisement selection data; generating, by the computing device
and based on the spatial aspects and the plurality of video frames,
a second plurality of video frames having modified output
proportions; and sending, to a user device, combined video content
comprising the second plurality of video frames and the one or more
advertisements.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: sending, to a second
computing device, the advertisement selection data.
3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, from a
second computing device and based on the advertisement selection
data, the one or more advertisements.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement selection data
includes at least one of: user device information, video content
information, or advertisement information.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames occupy at least one of: a
smaller viewing area than images associated with the plurality of
video frames, or a portion less than an entire video frame.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames do not occupy an entire
video frame.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames correspond to widescreen
images, and one or more images associated with the plurality of
video frames correspond to full-frame images.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein a video frame of the second
plurality of video frames comprises: an image associated with the
video content; and an advertisement of the one or more
advertisements.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: generating the
combined video content by assembling the second plurality of video
frames and the one or more advertisements in a non-overlapping
manner.
10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more advertisements
overlap a portion of the second plurality of video frames.
11. A system comprising: a computing device; and a user device;
wherein the computing device is configured to: receive a request
for video content, wherein the request comprises advertisement
selection data, and wherein the video content comprises a plurality
of video frames; determine spatial aspects of one or more
advertisements for inclusion with the video content based on the
advertisement selection data; generate, based on the spatial
aspects and the plurality of video frames, a second plurality of
video frames having modified output proportions; and send, to the
user device, combined video content comprising the second plurality
of video frames and the one or more advertisements; and wherein the
user is configured to: receive, from the computing device, the
combined video content.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing: device is
further configured to: send, to a second computing device, the
advertisement selection data.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further
configured to: receive, from a second computing device and based on
the advertisement selection data, the one or more
advertisements.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the advertisement selection
data includes at least one of: user device information, video
content information, or advertisement information.
15. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames occupy at least one of: a
smaller viewing area than images associated with the plurality of
video frames, or a portion less than an entire video frame.
16. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames do not occupy an entire
video frame.
17. The system of claim 11, wherein one or more images associated
with the second plurality of video frames correspond to widescreen
images, and one or more images associated with the plurality of
video frames correspond to full-frame images.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein a video frame of the second
plurality of video frames comprises: an image associated with the
video content; and an advertisement of the one or more
advertisements.
19. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further
configured to: generate the combined video content by assembling
the second plurality of video frames and the one or more
advertisements in a non-overlapping manner.
20. The system of claim 11, wherein the one or more advertisements
overlap a portion of the second plurality of video frames.
21. An apparatus comprising: one or more processors; and memory
storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more
processors, cause the apparatus to: receive a request for video
content, wherein the request comprises advertisement selection
data, and wherein the video content comprises a plurality of video
frames; determine spatial aspects of one or more advertisements for
inclusion with the video content based on the advertisement
selection data; generate, based on the spatial aspects and the
plurality of video frames, a second plurality of video frames
having modified output proportions; and send, to a user device,
combined video content comprising the second plurality of video
frames and the one or more advertisements.
22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when
executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus
to: send, to a computing device, the advertisement selection
data.
23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when
executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus
to: receive, from a computing device and based on the advertisement
selection data, the one or more advertisements.
24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the advertisement selection
data includes at least one of: user device information, video
content information, or advertisement information.
25. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein one or more images
associated with the second plurality of video frames occupy at
least one of: a smaller viewing area than images associated with
the plurality of video frames, or a portion less than an entire
video frame.
26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein one or more images
associated with the second plurality of video frames do not occupy
an entire video frame.
27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein one or more images
associated with the second plurality of video frames correspond to
widescreen images, and one or more images associated with the
plurality of video frames correspond to full-frame images.
28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein a video frame of the second
plurality of video frames comprises: an image associated with the
video content; and an advertisement of the one or more
advertisements.
29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when
executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus
to: generate the combined video content by assembling the second
plurality of video frames and the one or more advertisements in a
non-overlapping manner.
30. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the one or more
advertisements overlap a portion of the second plurality of video
frames.
31. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the instructions, when
executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus
to generate the second plurality of video frames by causing:
processing the plurality of video frames to reduce a spatial
dimension of one or more of the plurality of video frames.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to advertisement supported video
downloading of the type wherein advertisements are included with
downloaded video.
BACKGROUND ART
Videos generally comprise a number images embodied in a number of
full-frame video frames. The video frames may be displayed over
time to view the images included on the various video frames. With
respect to broadcast television, for example, advertisements may be
included within the video, such as but not limited to supporting
costs and other expenses associated with broadcasting the
video.
The advertisements may be full-frame advertisements in that they
occupy full video frames in a similar manner as the images
associated with the watched content. When a viewer watches the
video, the images are not shown while the advertisement is being
shown due to the corresponding images being full-frame images
occupying the entire viewing area.
A portion of the content/image related frames may be interrupted
with a number of advertisement frames in a process generally
referred to as advertisement splicing. The splicing generally
corresponds with the advertisement related video frames being
inserted between successive image or non-advertisement frames such
that the advertisement frames must be viewed before returning to
viewing of the images frames.
One problem with this approach, which is particularly detrimental
to the advertisers paying for the corresponding advertisements,
occurs when viewers watch the video in a non-real time or
non-broadcast manner, such as but not limited to viewing from a
video recorder, PC, etc., and fast forwards past, skips, or
otherwise limits viewing of the advertisement frames.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention is pointed out with particularity in the
appended claims. However, other features of the present invention
will become more apparent and the present invention will be best
understood by referring to the following detailed description in
conjunction with the accompany drawing in which:
FIG. 1 illustrates a system for advertisement supported video
delivery in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present
invention;
FIG. 2 illustrates a video frame in accordance with one
non-limiting aspect of the present invention; and
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of a method of advertisement
supported video download in accordance with one non-limiting aspect
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)
FIG. 1 illustrates a system 10 for advertisement supported video
delivery in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present
invention. The system 10 may generally correspond with downloading,
or otherwise communicating, a video, or other content file, from a
video server 12 to a viewer 14 for viewing. The viewer may be a
television, computer, digital video recorder, mobile device, and/or
other entity configured to support playback of the video.
The system 10 may further include an advertisement server 16 to
provide advertisements for inclusion within the video. The
advertisement server 16, video server 12, and viewer 14 may be
connected to each other or otherwise in communication by way of a
network 18. The network 18 may comprise any wireline and/or
wireless network sufficient to support electronic communications
between the same. The videos and advertisements may be communicated
over the network 18 to provide advertisement support video delivery
in accordance with one non-limiting aspect of the present
invention.
The present invention, as noted below, is predominately described
with respect to downloading a video file or other length of video
to a computer or mobile device for subsequent playback. The video
may be download to any device suitable to facilitate video
playback, such as but not limited to those devices having
capabilities to support fast forward and other video related
playback controls. While the present invention is described in this
manner, it is not intended to be so limited and fully contemplates
its application to other environments and supporting advertising in
any type of video viewing, including but not limited cable
television on-demand and broadcast (real-time) related viewing.
The types of devices having capabilities to support fast forward
and other related video controls provide problems with respect to
requiring or otherwise forcing advertisement viewing, as the
operators thereof may elect to fast forward or otherwise skip the
advertisement. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention is
intended to limit this problem by requiring any fast forwarding or
skipping of the advertisement to correspond with fast forwarding or
skipping a corresponding portion of the video, i.e., the content
desired for viewing, on the belief that viewers will be less likely
to fast forward or otherwise skip the advertisement if the
corresponding content must also be fast forwarded or otherwise
skipped.
The video may comprise or otherwise be made up on a number of
images included on a number of video frames. The corresponding
image frames may be played in succession by the viewer 14 or other
device to facilitate viewing of the corresponding images/content.
The video frames may be associated with analog or digital
communication methodologies and transferred according to any number
of protocols and standards associated with the same. The video
delivered to the viewer 14 may be received from a video source
remotely located from the video and it may include full-frame
images designed to provide full screen viewing for standard
(4.times.3), widescreen (16.times.9), or other viewing screens.
The advertisement server 16 may include any number and type of
advertisements for inclusion within the video. The advertisements
may be full-frame and/or limited frame video and/or non-video
advertisements. Optionally, the advertisements may be banner
advertisement, such as the type commonly known to appear on
websites or webpages, such as the type that appear across a portion
of a webpage. The banner advertisement may include an image, video,
or other animation, as well as a link to a webpage or other
resource associated with an advertiser.
Banner advertisements are commonly employed on websites to
facilitate generation of advertisement revenue. When a user views
the website, the banner advertisements appear to convey a message,
image, or other feature, and optionally a link or other means for
directing the viewer to a website associated with the advertisers.
Advertisements servers, such as the one shown in FIG. 1, may be
employed to support selection and delivery of such banner
advertisements.
Advertisers desiring to pay for or otherwise purchase
advertisements may upload a picture and URL address to the server.
The server 16 may format the picture (or other image) and process
the URL to provide a banner advertisement of desired size, shape,
appearance, etc. The advertiser may be required to pay varying
amounts for these features as well as for each showing of the
advertisement. One non-limiting aspect of the present invention
contemplates including such banner advertisements within downloaded
video and charging the corresponding advertisers for each showing
of the banner advertisements so as to support advertisement-based
video download.
The video server 12 may be configured to receive a particular video
for downloading to the viewer 14. The request may include
information on the viewer 14 and/or otherwise be associated with
the same. This information may then be provided to the
advertisement server 16 to facilitate selecting one or more
advertisements for inclusion within the video. The advertisers
and/or advertisement server 16 may specify any number of conditions
and/or algorithms to support selecting the advertisements. The
selected advertisements may be sent to the video server 12 and
included within the video download.
The video server 12 may be configured to embed the advertisements
within the video such that the viewer is unable to fast forward or
otherwise skip the advertisement without fast forwarding or
otherwise skipping at least a portion of the video. This may
include embedding the advertisements within the image frames
comprising the video such that the corresponding video frames
include images and advertisements on the same frame such that if
the user skips the frame, the corresponding image must also be
skipped.
The advertisement may be included and/or otherwise embedded within
the video frames according to any suitable methodology, which may
depend on the type of advertisement, i.e., whether the
advertisement is a banner advertisement or a video advertisement.
Any suitable tracking system may be used to track advertisement
inclusion and whether the included advertisement were actually
accessed by the viewer 14, i.e., whether the user clicked on the
advertisement.
The embedding of the advertisements may optionally include
translating the images to occupy a smaller portion of the video
frames. Full-frame images, for example, may be sized to take up the
entire viewing area of the screen or other device used to view the
video. The present invention, however, contemplates reducing the
image size, such as through a translation process, so that the
corresponding image occupies a smaller portion, something less than
full-frame. This creates a gap/available area for inclusion within
the video frame, which the present invention contemplates for
receipt of the advertisement.
The gap produced from translating the images may correspond with a
pillar box and/or letter box. The pillar box may correspond with a
portion of a standard viewing area (4.times.3) and the letter box
may correspond with a portion of a widescreen viewing area
(16.times.9). The boxes may be arranged on the top, bottom, or side
of the images to provide space for the advertisements. Another
methodology to create room for the advertisement may include
converting standard full-frame images to widescreen images, the
widescreen images being wider and shorter than the standard images,
thereby creating a suitable gap above and below the image.
The size of the gap may also be suited or adjusted to the size of
the selected advertisement. Optionally, rather than relying on
gaps, the advertisement may be overlaid used to block out or cover
a portion of the image. Once the positioning, sizing, and other
aspect related to advertisement are determined, optionally by the
video server 12, the advertisement may be embedded into the
corresponding video frame such that the video frame now includes
and image portion and an advertisement portion.
FIG. 2 illustrates a video frame 24 having image 26 and
advertisement portions 28-30 in accordance with one non-limiting
aspect of the present invention. The illustration generally
corresponds with advertisement portions 28-30 being provided
relative to a top and bottom side of the image portion 26. The
advertisement portions 28-30, however, may be located at any
position relative to the image portion 26, and optionally,
depending to the translation of the image. Furthermore, if the
multiple advertisement portions are included, different
advertisements may be included in each portion. The advertisements
may be changed over time, and during playback of the same
video.
If the viewing device includes other processing and communication
capabilities, the advertisements may be clicked on or otherwise
selected to access more information with respect to the associated
advertisement, such as by being transported to website of the
advertiser if such an address is included within or otherwise
associated with the advertisement. Optionally, if the
advertisements are banner advertisements, i.e., internet based
advertisements having images and URLs, such advertisements may
still be included even if the viewer is unable to access the
corresponding website, such as to facilitate displaying a logo of
the advertiser.
FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart 36 of a method of advertisement
supported video download in accordance with one non-limiting aspect
of the present invention. The method broadly relates to including
advertisements within video. The method is describe with respect to
a file download or other process wherein a user obtains a full copy
of the video for playback when not connected or in communication
with a video server from which the video may be downloaded. This is
done for exemplary purposes only and the present invention fully
contemplates its application to any process for providing
video.
Block 38 relates to receipt of a video request. The video request
may be made from a viewer to a video server and specify a video or
other content desired for downloading. User information, device
information, and other information may be determined from the
request to identify the video, the capabilities of the device
intended to playback the video, interests/habits of the user, etc.
This information may be communicated to an advertisement server
and/or used by the video server in facilitating the video
download.
Block 40 relates to selecting an advertisement for inclusion with
the video download. The selected advertisement may be determined by
the video or advertisement server. It may be selected to correspond
with the user's viewing habits and/or capabilities of the device
intended to playback the downloaded video. Optionally, advertisers
may specify how their advertisements may be selected and the
advertisers may be billed upon the selection thereof.
Block 42 relates to optionally translating images associated with
the video to make room or gaps of the selected advertisements. One
or more images associated with one or more frames may be translated
in this manner. Some video frames may include different sized image
translation relative to other video frames depending on the size
and shape of the advertisement intended for the same, such as if
different advertisements are selected for showing at different
times and/or within the same video frame.
Block 44 relates to embedding the advertisement in at least a
portion of a number of video frames making up the requested video.
The video frames may be adapted to include images associated with
the requested video and the selected advertisement such that at
least a portion of the video frames include banner advertisements
and images. This may be helpful in preventing fast forwarding past
the banner advertisements without similarly fast forwarding past a
corresponding portion of the images
Block 46 relates to downloading the requested video, including the
embedded advertisements, to the viewer. The video may be downloaded
in any suitable manner. Once downloaded, the video providing entity
and advertisers may gain a mutual benefit in requiring playback of
the video to automatically include viewing of the embedded
advertisements, unless of course the advertising portion of the
video is fast forwarded or otherwise skipped, which may be unlikely
considering such action will fast forward past or skip a
corresponding portion of the video do to the images being on some
of the same frames as the advertisements.
As described above, one non-limiting aspect of the present
invention may relate to collecting online banner ad images and
injecting/encoding them into video content such that the banner ad
images are present while the video content is being played back.
This allows an advertising-supported model for offering video
content, such as but not limited for use with portable media
devices, video on demand (VOD), online streaming, etc.
The online banner ads may be collected e.g. from a URL, and a
script may be constructed to govern their injection/encoding into
video content using image composition techniques e.g. scaling and
translation. One embodiment may select the banner ads to associate
with a piece of video content based on some
correlation/correspondence between known, deduced or derived
properties of the video content and known, deduced or derived
properties of the selected advertisements. E.g., if the video
content is discovered to be basketball, the advertising can steer
toward NBA, WNBA, basketball apparel and/or footwear, related
professional sports, etc.
One non-limiting aspect of the present invention relates to
providing methods for advertising support for a free video download
content model to portable devices. This technique may inhibit
separation of advertising from main content in by compositing the
ads and the content in the same video frame. Since the online
banner ads can be tracked via the download URL, and the portable
media content can be tracked via content file download, an
ad-sponsored free content business model is facilitated.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are
disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the
disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that
may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are
not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or
minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore,
specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not
to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis
for the claims and/or as a representative basis for teaching one
skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and
described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and
describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words
used in the specification are words of description rather than
limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made
without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
* * * * *